Australia watchdog raises concerns on bids for Glencore coal rail arm

MELBOURNE Oct 6 Australia's competition
watchdog raised concerns about bids from the nation's two
biggest coal haulers for Glencore Plc's coal rail
business and said it would decide by December whether to allow
them to go ahead.

Glencore has attracted several bids for its GRail business,
the third-largest coal haulage business in Australia, which
could fetch as much as A$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion), including
from top coal hauler Aurizon Holdings, its arch rival
Pacific National and U.S. firm Genesee & Wyoming Inc.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the
sale of GRail was a rare opportunity to introduce competition in
the rail business.

"The Hunter Valley coal haulage market appears to have high
barriers to entry, so we would expect the addition of a third
competitor to have a significant effect upon the market,"
commission Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.
($1 = 1.3141 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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